


It’s Completely Unnecessary

by Snorlax_on_USS_Discovery



Series: Wedding Bells [1]
Category: Star Trek: Discovery
Genre: Angst, Domestic Fluff, Episode: s01e04 The Butcher's Knife Cares Not for the Lamb's Cry, Fluff, Happiness is where you find it, Hurt/Comfort, Idiots in Love, M/M, Paul Stamets Is Bad At Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 21:19:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29922975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Snorlax_on_USS_Discovery/pseuds/Snorlax_on_USS_Discovery
Summary: Why does Paul find memory and emotional expression completely unnecessary? Or is there something else hidden behind his words? Missing scene  fic that takes place after S1 E4: The Butcher’s Knife Cares Not for the Lamb’s Cry.
Relationships: Hugh Culber/Paul Stamets
Series: Wedding Bells [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2204391
Comments: 8
Kudos: 25





	It’s Completely Unnecessary

**Author's Note:**

> Contains some minor language.

Hugh was not looking forward to his inevitable argument with Paul after his comment about the overrated frontal lobe. It was unnecessary and totally out of line, and it still had him quite furious almost seven hours later. Sure they had a minor disagreement in the morning about Paul’s long hours, but there was no reason for Paul to have taken it as far as he did.

Once Hugh’s shift was over he headed toward his quarters, thinking a run would help clear head and hopefully stave off a larger argument that he felt was overdue, but at the same time, one Hugh did not want to have.

He was not sure what kind of mood Paul would even be in. He could either be ecstatic that he got the spore drive to work like he always intended, or he could be beyond irritable from Lorca needling him in sickbay, knowing that Lorca played the audio of distress call from Corvan II to get at him. Part of Hugh hoped it would be the former because it meant that Paul wouldn’t be home. The latter meant he’d be home, and Hugh wanted no part of the foul mood. 

_It only contains memory and emotional expression. It’s completely unnecessary._

_Fuck you, Paul, and not in a good way._

No matter why Paul said it, even knowing he did not mean it did not mean the words did not hurt. Actions have consequences. It was not something you say to someone whom you love. 

Hugh was relieved when the doors open that it was dark inside, which meant he could get changed without dealing with one cranky astromycologist. He was a bit perplexed that the lights did not turn on when he entered. “Computer lights.”

Paul whined and whimpered when the lights turned on. While the lights weren’t usually bright, now they felt as if he was staring directly into the sun. He pulled the comforter over his head, so only a few blond hairs peeked out at the top. Paul tightly squeezed his blue eyes shut, hoping the excruciating headache he had just gotten under control would not come back. 

“Oh, you are here!” Hugh said with a bit too much anger than he intended, but his voice was no louder than usual. If Paul was going to act like a petulant child, he would not stick around for it.

“Shhhh.” Paul shushed from under the covers. He was not in the mood to be yelled at because loud noise really hurt his ears. 

Hugh raised his eyebrows, wondering if he had heard Paul right. “Did you just shush me?” The infantile behavior was just compounding his anger. He quickly pulled off his uniform and tossed it onto the couch.

“Stop yelling,” Paul responded, voice muffled as an arm emerged from under the comforter and stole Hugh’s pillow to cover his face and ears with it, so the sounds were not so loud.

“I’m not yelling, Paul." He tried to keep the anger out of his voice. “What are you do…wait, never mind, I don’t have the patience to deal with you when you are like this.” Hugh now let his voice raise slightly and quickly put on workout clothes: running shorts and a sleeveless shirt.

“Leave me alone,” Paul grumbled from his hiding spot, wanting nothing more than to be left alone. He did not want the worst headache he ever had to come back. He thought briefly that maybe he should mention the headache to Hugh, being a doctor and all, but thinking made his head start to hurt again, and he shut that down.

“Pendejo,” Hugh muttered under his breath. It was extremely rare that he cursed, let alone in Spanish, but it just showed how frustrating Paul was right now. “I’m going for a run. I hope your attitude is gone by the time I get back because we need to talk about that crap you pulled earlier. Computer, lights off.” Hugh left misery to be on its own.

The aggravated doctor had been running for a little over an hour when his comm chirped. Maybe Paul had calmed down and was willing to talk.

“Dr. Culber, this is Dr. Pollard please come in.”

Hugh stopped to catch his breath. Pollard...he recalled the name. Dr. Tracy Pollard joined the ship a week ago, but schedules being what they were, Hugh did not get a chance to introduce himself yet.

“Culber here. Nice to finally talk to you.” Hugh took a deep breath as he wiped the sweat from his brow. “Anything I can help you with?”

“I hate to bother you. I know you are off duty, but I have a few questions about a patient you treated earlier.”

“Sure. Do you need me to come in?” Hugh asked as he leaned against a bulkhead. Maybe picking up a partial shift would not be a bad idea.

“No need for you to come in. When you treated Lieutenant Stamets for nasal and skull fractures, did you happen the check for any cerebrospinal fluid leaks?”

There was only one reason for that question. Something happened in the hour since he left Paul, and he ended up in sickbay. “What happened?” Hugh asked as he made his way toward sickbay. If there was one way to forget you were mad at the one you love, it was the prospect something terrible happened to them. Now, Hugh realized Paul’s behavior in their quarters was not him being difficult. The covering his face when the lights turned on: sensitivity to light. Paul telling him not to yell when he was talking normally: sensitivity to sound. Hugh missed it all because he was too angry to notice something was wrong. Here comes a healthy dose of guilt to completely erase Hugh’s anger at the sometimes frustrating love of his life. 

“I fixed the leak, but I want to keep him overnight for observation because of a concussion.”

“Concussion?” Hugh asked. That was one thing he knew he did not miss. “Never mind, I’m on my way.” He raced toward sickbay to see what happened and how Paul now had a concussion. 

  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tracy looked confused as the comm line dropped. She saw no reason for her fellow doctor to come in when he was off duty. The leak was probably not even detectable when the lieutenant had been treated, and she assumed he was an over-dedicated doctor. “Is Dr. Culber like this with all his patients?” Tracy asked one of the nearby nurses.

The young nurse laughed and shook their head, “Dr. Culber is an amazing doctor, but he’s not coming here as a doctor. Let’s just say when Dr. Culber’s gets back to his quarters, there’s going to a fair amount of blood to clean up.”

Tracy raised her eyebrows as realization set in. Her first thought was roommates, but that lasted a second, realizing their ranks meant private living quarters. 

“The two of them have been together for years. Rumor has it that they were supposed to get married. As in date set, the venue booked, invitations sent out, and then the war started, and it never happened.” The nurse continued to gossip. The night shift was usually quiet, and nothing much happened. “We swap stories with the crew in Engineering about what the two of them do when they think no one is watching. It’s really sweet...sometimes naughty.”

Tracy nodded and listened as the nurse prattled on. It was typical ship behavior, the gossiping, and latching on ship dramatics or, in this case, a romance that people seemed invested in. She couldn’t speak to it because she did not know either man, but it seemed no one had ill intentions. It was as if they were living vicariously through someone else’s happiness through these trying times.

“And it helps when he looks like that,” the nurse pointed as Hugh ran into sickbay and rushed over to Paul, who was laying in a bio-bed quietly giggling to himself, a side effect of the high dose pain medication he was given for his headache. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  
As soon as Hugh saw Paul on the bio-bed giggling, he knew the other man was high as could be. “Hey, Paul, how are you feeling?” Hugh gently stroked Paul’s temple with his thumb. He frowned slightly, feeling that this was all his fault. 

“Headache is gone. It was the worst headache ever.” Paul smiled. “I made a bit of a mess in the bathroom. Hit my head on the sink. You know how I hate messes,” he said with a chuckle. 

“I will make sure the drones clean it.” Hugh leaned forward and pressed a tender kiss to Paul’s forehead. “I’m sorry. This is all my fault. I was too mad to see something was wrong.” Emotion got the better of the doctor, and his lip started to tremble.

Paul slowly sat up and wrapped his arms tightly around his partner’s chest. “This is not your fault, Hugh.” He hooked his legs around Hugh’s and dropped his head to the other’s shoulder. “I did tell you to leave me alone.” Paul sighed, knowing what his other half was about to say. “Stop blaming yourself. Today’s been a hard day.” There was just a hint of something else left unsaid in his last sentence. The real reason for what he had said earlier in this same bed. 

“Can you not get seriously hurt again any time soon?” Hugh buried his face in Paul’s hair, needing to anchor himself to the amazing but sometimes infuriating man that he couldn’t live without.

“I’ll try. My lab can be a dangerous place if Tilly doesn’t get the correct amount of caffeine in her.” Paul said with a fond smile. “I nearly tripped over her the other day.” The emotions that Paul had pushed down for the day bubbled to the surface, and a few tears fell from his eyes, hitting Hugh’s bare shoulder. 

“Paul? What’s wrong?” Hugh asked as he felt the tears hit his shoulder.

The scientist drew in a shaky ragged breath, “I didn’t think today was going to hit me the way it. With what today was supposed to be. What we’d be doing right this very moment if this war wasn’t going on. Then Lorca was being Lorca. You didn’t mention anything about today. I thought you might have forgotten. It’s stupid for me to be upset over this. Tens of thousands have lost their lives, and I’m upset about our postponed wedding.”

Paul’s words felt like a hard kick to the gut and it felt as if all the air was knocked out of Hugh’s lungs. It seemed Paul’s superpower for the day was to make him feel guilty without meaning to. “I didn’t forget. How could I forget that today is the day I was supposed to marry the love of my life?” He lifted Paul’s head from his shoulder and kissed away the lingering tears from his cheeks. “Your feelings aren’t stupid. They never are.” Hugh had mixed feelings about today. Of course, he’d love nothing more to be celebrating with family and friends at their wedding reception (which, given the time of day, it should have been where they were), but they were here now, alive and together. Then once the war was over, they could have their special day. 

It was now that Hugh realized as he looked into Paul’s sad eyes that his words that cut Hugh so deep earlier was Paul lashing out, thinking Hugh had forgotten that today should have been the happiest day of their lives so far. That Paul saying emotional expression was completely unnecessary was, in fact a deeply emotional reaction. 

Paul managed a feeble smile as he looked deeply into Hugh’s eyes, amazed at what a calming and centering presence he was in his life. “Thank you for being you.” In the back of his mind, Paul knew he should be thrilled about the successful jump today, but instead he was mourning what the day should have been. Priorities.

“How about I go and see if I can get you sprung from here, and we enjoy what’s left of the evening?” Hugh asked, thinking a quiet evening at home is precisely what both of them needed. 

Paul nodded. “Please. I really need that.”

“Maybe we can do some of the things we were supposed to do tonight.” Hugh shook his head and laughed when he saw Paul wiggle his eyebrows suggestively. “No. Not that. You are still recovering. You are incorrigible.” He rolled his eyes at the way Paul looked him like he was his next meal. 

“Do you see what you are wearing?” Paul always had a weakness for Hugh in workout clothes. “Now go,” he shooed Hugh away. “Arrange my freedom.”

“Bossy,” Hugh laughed and offered Paul a chaste kiss on the lips. “I’ll be right back.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tracy sat back and watched the two men interact and she saw what the nurse had been talking about. She couldn’t hear what they were saying, but their body language said it all. There was something magical between them, a one in a million connection. Then she noticed Hugh coming toward her.

“Hi, you must, Dr. Pollard.” Hugh offered his best smile and a hand to shake.

“Yes. It’s finally nice to meet you, Dr. Culber.” Tracy shook the offered hand. “Let me guess. You want to take my patient home.”

“Nice to meet you too, and yes, I’d like to take the lieutenant home. I will keep him under my strict supervision. Bed rest for at least 24 hours and off duty for 48 hours.” Hugh replied as if he’d not take no for an answer. “Besides, it will probably be easier on everyone here if I took Paul home. I promise to bring him back if his condition worsens.” 

“That is fine. You can take Lieutenant Stamets home. I was only keeping him here because I did not know that he had someone to keep an eye on him overnight. You should also take something for the pain for when what’s he’s on now wears off. Enjoy the rest of your evening, doctor.” Tracy could tell she was going to like this man and had the feeling they would get along well once they got the chance to know each other.

“Thank you. Maybe we can meet for coffee in a few days and have a proper introduction. When things aren’t so crazy,” Hugh pointed to the adorable blond bouncing impatiently on the bio-bed. He reached for one of the medical tablets and quickly began typing a message to help put his plan in motion:

**_From: Culber, H. (Lt. Cmdr.-Med)_ **

**_To: Tilly, S. (Cdt.-Eng)_ **

**_Tilly,_ **

**_I’m pretty sure you are probably still in engineering. I need you to do two favors for me. First, can you send the cleaning drones to our quarters to clean the bathroom right away? There was an accident. Paul is fine, but he won’t be in for the next two days, and you have my permission to kick him out and make sure he goes home should he try to come back before then. Second, in the refrigerated unit in the cultivation bay there should be a small box with a cake inside, can you bring it to our quarters?_ **

**_Thank you,_ **

**_Culber_ **

Hugh put down the tablet once he got a message acknowledged notification; he then shook his head, “Have a good evening. I better get Paul out of here before he bounces off the bed and ruins my plans for him.”

He walked back toward Paul, grabbing a hypospray in case Paul needed pain relief later. “You got to stop that, or I’m going to put you in a protective bubble so you don’t hurt yourself. Let’s go home.” He offered an arm to his impatient lover.

Paul took the offered arm and carefully slid off the bed, showing how careful he was being.

Hugh made sure to take his time heading back to their room to make sure the drones had the time to clean up the mess left behind by Paul’s fall. He could sense his partner’s impatience and distracted him with a kiss to Paul’s cheek and a small nibble on his ear.

“What are you doing?” Paul asked, sounding like he was complaining, but he really wasn’t.

“Just taking our time. Want to make sure the bathroom is cleaned before we get back.” Hugh explained as they turned the last corner before reaching their room, and that’s when they saw Tilly coming their way holding a box.

“Why does she have that?” Paul eyed the box the cadet carried.

“I asked her to bring it. I had a feeling you would have something like that made for today. So, of course, we will have to enjoy it. Feed it to each other.” Hugh whispered the last sentence so Tilly would not hear. The cake was the same flavor they planned to have at their reception. It was a chocolate cake with a vanilla custard filling with strawberries with vanilla rum frosting. As much as Paul would deny it, Hugh thought he was pretty good at being romantic. 

“Thank you, Tilly.” Paul tried to show no emotion as he took the cake from the woman.

“You’re welcome, sirs,” Tilly said with a smile as she handed her boss the box. “Are you okay, lieutenant?”

“I will be fine. Just want to go home.” Paul replied in a harsh tone, saying he did not want to be subjected to a barrage of questions.

“Thank you again for your help, Tilly. He will see you in a few days and not a minute sooner.” Hugh gave Paul a warning glare to show how serious he was about Paul not rushing back to work.

Tilly nodded, “You’re welcome. Feel better, sir.” The cadet left as quickly as she arrived. 

Once Hugh and Paul arrived at their quarters, Hugh said he needed a shower to wash the sweat off from his run, and when Paul asked if he could join, Hugh reluctantly declined. Showering together never was just a shower. 

“Fine,” Paul playfully pouted as he watched Hugh retreat to the bathroom. 

Five minutes later, Hugh emerged from the shower feeling refreshed and wearing his fleet-issued pajamas. He was glad to see Paul had done the same and he was now sitting on the couch looking at his PADD. 

“Thought I said no work.” Hugh came up behind the couch and kissed the top of Paul’s head.

“I wasn’t working,” Paul lied terribly as he threw the PADD onto the table in front of him and tried to look as innocent as possible. 

“You are such a bad liar.” Hugh teasingly rolled his eyes. “It’s time for the dance we should have had tonight.” 

A wide smile of pure delight spread across Paul’s face. “Yes, my love.” He got up off the couch and moved toward Hugh. 

“Computer, music please.” Hugh took Paul into his arms, wrapping his arms around the other’s waist and pulled him close. “I love you with all that I am,” he whispered against Paul’s ears, lips lightly tickling the sensitive skin and causing Paul to shudder involuntarily.

Paul wrapped his arms around Hugh’s neck and basked in the warmth between them. “I love you more than I love than I love my mushrooms.” He felt Hugh smile against his ear and mutter dork against it.

Once the music began, they began to dance to the song they had picked to be the first song they would have danced to as a married couple. 

_The smell of your skin  
_ _The taste of your kiss  
_ _The way you whisper in the dark_

The kiss started off as slow and tender and gradually built into hungry and all-consuming. The song's words blurred into the background as the only sound they could hear was their hearts beating in synch. When air begged to be consumed, they reluctantly broke apart and their foreheads came to rest on each other.

_I wanna spend the rest of my life_  
_With you by my side  
_ _Forever and ever_

After the song finished, the couple continued to sway, unwilling to break their embrace. They want to live in this moment for as long as they could. It was as if the rest of the world did not exist and time stood still. Their eyes locked on each other, the perfect contrast of light and dark, speaking to each other in ways where words were insufficient to convey the depth of their feelings.

The sheer emotion of the moment overtook both men and tears sprung to both their eyes and it made both of them pull away from each other so they could dry their eyes.

“I think it’s time for cake and movies,” Hugh said, his voice wavering because of the overwhelming love he had for the man before him. He wanted nothing more than to make love to Paul all night, but he could not allow that with his head injuries. They would have to settle for making out and snuggling, which sometimes was just as good. 

Paul nodded, also wanting more from the night but knew Hugh was too responsible to allow that to happen. It was one of the million reasons he loved the most patient and sexy man he ever knew. The only man that would ever love him for who he was and never expected him to change. 

The next forty-five minutes were spent licking and sucking pieces of the cake off each other. Most of the cake seemed to miss their mouths mysteriously and without any utensils; their only option was their mouth and fingers that were eventually licked and sucked clean as well. 

After the cake and any trace of it was gone, they settled in to watch a few cheesy holo-movies across different genres. Hugh and Paul cuddled in close with Hugh’s head on Paul’s shoulder. They laughed and snarked commentary over the ridiculousness of the movies. Of course, there was the occasional stolen kiss.

It was the perfect ending to a not so perfect day. 

**Author's Note:**

> This kind of took on a life of its own. For a while I had wanted to do a missing scene fic for why Paul said what he did to Hugh in sickbay. 
> 
> In case you were wondering pendejo basically means asshole or stupid. Some of my dear co-workers taught me that years ago.
> 
> Hugh’s conversation with Jett in sickbay in S2 led me to believe that maybe at the very least they were planning a wedding and thanks to my SpaceBoo enablers for planting that idea.
> 
> The song they are dancing to is called Amazed by Lonestar. It seemed to really fit them to me.
> 
> Of course comments and kudos are always welcome and very much appreciated.


End file.
